Charting Your Course to Success
Articles by Chris Widener
Get Your Goals ? Guaranteed!
"Goals" is a topic that many people talk about, both in a positive as well as a negative sense. Some people are goal maniacs and others think they are a waste of time. Me? I am somewhat different. I just care about one thing ? results. Goals: write ?em down; don´t write ?em down, I don´t care. Just get them! Achieve them! Live them! That is the only thing that should matter about goals, right?
If the only thing that matters is that we achieve our goals, then let´s talk about ways that will guarantee that we get our goals! There is such a way3; and here it is:
First, be realistic.
Too many people get hyped up by people promising them the world and they set goals that simply aren´t realistic. Then they are disappointed and then decide that "goals" are bad. But wait a minute. Don´t I teach that anybody can achieve anything? Sort of. We have to be realistic. The best example is that a seven-foot center who plays basketball will never be a world champion jockey. A person who is five feet, two inches could be, given time. This is the difference between a realistic goal and one that isn´t. Take some time and set a realistic goal or goals. This will make your goals guaranteed from the get go!
Second, memorize your goals.
Set them in stone in your mind. Know what they are. Prioritize them in order of importance and memorize them so that if anyone asked you, "What are you top seven goals?" you could answer immediately. This will embed the goals and the desired outcomes into your mind, which is the seed of action.
Visualize your goals.
Some people are really into this. Some people think it is total hooey. I am in the middle. I do not think that there is anything "magical" about the visualization process, but I do think that taking some time to regularly envision your dream and goals is a great thing. It deepens your desire to get your goals. It puts you into a frame of mind where you operate in a peak state. So, don´t overdo it, but don´t throw the baby out with the bathwater either. Put your goals deep into your mind by visualizing them periodically.
Set time frames.
Don´t let your goal be, "I want to lose twenty pounds." Instead, let it be, "I want to lose twenty pounds in four months." Again, a reminder to be realistic. But you can do wonders for your goal setting if you break your goals and put time frames on them. This gives it a sense of urgency. It makes it some thing you are working "toward" rather than working "on." In fact, I would suggest setting long-range time frames, mid-range time frames, and short-range time frames.
Spend time and money on your goals.
Realize that any goal worth achieving is worth spending your resources, specifically time and money, on. Buy books, go to seminars, join associations, hire a coach, etc. Whatever you need to do to get your goals! Spending time and money will seed your dreams and you will reap the end result far beyond what you put into it. Big dreams have big costs, but even little dreams have a cost associated with them so count the cost.
Surround yourself with people who can propel you to your goals.
Never underestimate the power of the people around you to either drag you down or lift you up. Poisonous people can destroy your goal by systematically draining you of your passion and desire and replacing it with total pessimism! Passionate and positive people can invigorate you with renewed energy and a mind set on the dream. Get around people who will energize you!
Act on your goals each and every day.
Even if it is just a small step, it will leave you closer to your goal each and every day. If you have a savings goal, set aside even one dollar a day. Take a jar and empty your change into it at the end of each day. If you want to write a book, write each day, if even just two paragraphs! Small, step-by-step actions will produce the goal ? guaranteed!
Be persistent!
I have long said that if the three most important words in real estate are "location," "location," "location," then the three most important words in getting what you desire are "persistence," "persistence," "persistence." In fact, be tenaciously persistent. Be ruthlessly persistent. Look, there will be all sorts of barriers and obstacles you will have to overcome if you want to achieve your dream. Dreams don´t just roll over and die. You have to attack them! Go for it and don´t give up! They can, and will, be yours!
Can you get your goals ? guaranteed? You bet you can. And you will, if you put into practice the above principles.
If you3;
Be realistic.
Memorize your goals.
Visualize your goals.
Set time frames.
Spend time and money on your goals.
Surround yourself with positive people.
Act on your goals every day and3;
Be persistent.
You can get your goals ? guaranteed!
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Simple Ways to Super-Charge Your Goals and Make Them Work!
Goals. Most people have a love-hate relationship with goals. They love them because they are such a great idea and a wonderful way to motivate us to achieve, as well as evaluate our progress, but hate them because for many, they more often than not go unattained and simply frustrate them. This isn´t what goals should do!
So I thought as we begin this New Year, I would give us some simple ways to set goals so that we achieve them! After all, what good is a goal if it isn´t something you achieve? Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure that you see change in your life this year.
Narrow your focus.
That´s right, start small. Pick two or three areas tops, that you want to work on. Too many people say to themselves, "I want to do this, and this, and this, and this3;3;" and they end up doing nothing! Most of what you do throughout your day can be done without a lot of mental or emotional exertion, but change isn´t one of them. So focus down to a couple. This way you can get some victory in these areas. Here are some areas to think about: Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Spiritual, Financial, and Relational. What areas need some work? Now, what one thing should be the first item on the change list? The others will come later, but for now, you should focus on two or three total.
Keep the long-term in mind, but set your sights on achieving your goals in the short-term.
Do you want to lose 75 pounds? Good. Long-term you will. But for now, think short-term. Don´t think about losing 75 pound by summer 2000. Think about losing 5 pounds by February 1st. This does two things. First, It makes it urgent. Instead of blowing it and saying, "Oh well, I still have 17 months to lose the 75 pounds" (because eventually that becomes 2 months to lose 75 pounds) your goal is only a few weeks out. This is better in terms of reaching your goal. Secondly, as you reach these shorter goals, it gives you regular victories instead of regular progress. Progress feels good, but achieving a goal is awesome!
Reward yourself when you achieve the goal.
When you lose the 5 pounds by February 1st, go get yourself a grande whole-milk mocha. But just one! Then get back to your goal for March 1st. This puts a little fun back into the process of self-control and self-discipline. You will look forward to the reward and when the going gets tough, you will say, "two more weeks, two more pounds, then3;"
Don't bite off more than you can chew.
Instead of saying, "I am going to quit my three pack a day habit cold turkey," say "I am going to drop to a pack and a half a day." You can always make new resolutions when you have achieved the first ones. Give yourself small victories a little at a time. Instead of saying "I am going to lose 75 pounds," say "I am going to lose 20 pounds."
Be specific in your timeline.
Don't just say, "I am going to lose 20 pounds." Say, "I am going to lose 20 pounds by April 1st." This way, when you start to be tempted in the ice cream aisle in the middle of February, you can say, "Nope, only 10 more pounds to go in a month and a half and I am not going to blow it."
Post your resolutions where you will see them every day.
This will keep the resolution in the front of your mind at all times. Instead of forgetting that you are trying to lose weight and ordering a big, thick porterhouse, you will have been reminded earlier that day that you need to go with something a little more on the lighter side. It will help your will beat your desire.
Find an encouraging person, who you respect, to keep you accountable.
This person should ask you, at an interval established by the both of you, how it is going. They must be the encouraging type, though. If you are blowing it, they can say, "Well, that's okay, get back to it tomorrow." If you are doing well, they can say, "Awesome job. I'll talk to you next week." You will look forward to their weekly encouragement.
Find a partner.
That's right, someone who is trying to accomplish the same thing (or something different if need be). Just make sure that they really want to change, or they will end up just bellyaching about how hard it is and you will both fall into the abyss.
Write down a list of all of the benefits that will come if you accomplish this.
If it is losing weight it might be something like this: Feel better, better self-esteem, longer life, clothes are more comfortable, no more time spent sewing on popped buttons, wife says you look 22 again, etc. If it is quitting smoking, it may look like this: Better breath, no more brown fingers, no more wrinkles on my face, no more red eyes, no more smelly clothes, longer life, wife don't make me spend two hours a day on the back porch, etc. This will help you see what you will get from accomplishing your resolution.
Plan a reward if you accomplish your resolution.
It can be anything from small to large. If you drop the twenty pounds, go out for dinner and dessert. Then get back to lose the next 20. If it is quitting smoking, go on a mini-vacation. Whatever you do, reward yourself. Or let a spouse or a friend pick the reward. Then splurge and enjoy!
That´s it. I truly believe that it can be that simple for you.
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Halftime: Re-evaluating Yearly Goals
Note: This article was originally written at mid year so it is good reminder around June but the principles are applicable anytime.
In a sporting event, the players are given a break at the half in order to refresh themselves, look at how they played in the first half, and set strategy for the second half. So as you approach halftime, here are some thoughts. Do you have a vacation planned in the next two months that will give you the needed break and refreshment? If not, schedule one this week! How did you "play" in the first half of this year? Have you met your goals that you established at the beginning of the year? Here are a few ideas to evaluate where you are at with your goals as you approach the halfway mark.
Take some time to sit down alone and review your goals. How many are you on mark to make? How many have you not even begun on? How many have you achieved?
For those you haven´t even begun, my suggestion would be to reset your goal at 10 percent of the original goal. Obviously this goal hasn´t been a priority, for whatever reason, and most likely won´t suddenly become so. But you can make some ground. Set a small increase for the remaining six months and get ahead a little in these areas.
For the goals you are on pace to achieve, try to stretch about 10 percent. So, to give it a numerical value, if your original goal was 10 and you have already reached 5 after halfway, stretch yourself to try to achieve 11 by the end of the year. This will give you a good reason to kick into high gear as the year progresses.
For those goals you are on pace to break strongly through, try an increase of 50 percent.
And finally, for the goals you have already reached, try to set the new goal at 100 percent of the original goal.
In all of these remember that it is better to try hard, and even fail at a higher goal, than to take the easy route and attain nothing at all!
Best of luck as you re-evaluate your goals! |
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Make Greatness Your Goal!
Chris Widener
If greatness is your goal, whether in your business life, your personal relationships or your own personal growth, here are some guidelines to get you on your way. Greatness is possible! You can achieve the goals you set for yourself and you can make a difference in your own life and those who live and work around you! Set greatness as your goal! Here´s how:
Identify greatness for yourself. While there are some basic generalities that most people would consider great, there are broader definitions of greatness, ones that each individual sets for him or herself. For example, most people would consider Mother Theresa great while only some would consider Donald Trump great. Helping humanity is a broad generality while building a real estate fortune isn´t. So what you need to first do is ask, "What does greatness look like for this company, organization, family or for myself?" From there you can develop values and a mission statement etc. But if you don´t first identify it, you´ll never reach it.
Maximize targeted end results. As Covey says, "begin with the end in mind." What end results do you want. Be specific. Come up with all of them. Maximize them. Leave no stone uncovered. Set out for yourself all of the goals or end results you must hit in order to reach greatness. Write them down, memorize them and distribute them broadly (if doing this for a group). Maximize your targeted end results!
Make distinction your endeavor. What is the endeavor of the great? Usually it is to distinguish themselves from the average. They seek to rise above the rest by the quality of their product or service. Everything goes toward the goal of making themselves distinct from the run of the mill. That is their mission. And in doing so, they make themselves great!
Map your effort thoroughly. The three most important words in real estate are "location, location, location." In reaching a goal, the three most important words are "plan, plan, plan." Okay, "execute" and "persevere" work too, but go with me here! Too many people wish they would achieve something but never write down a plan for getting there. When I want to go on a long trip I don´t just wish to get there. I plan on how to get there. I get a map, I figure out distances, times etc. Map out your goal thoroughly. This will help you achieve greatness.
Regularly take time for regeneration. Achieving greatness is hard! You will care more, work harder, and take more lumps and setbacks than the rest. So you will need to take time to regenerate so you can fight again another day. Your body needs rest. Your mind needs rest. Your emotions need rest. Your spirit needs rest. I firmly believe that a person who rests well can do more in less time than the one works without setting aside time for regeneration. You may be able to reach goals without rest, but somewhere along the line, you will fall harder and longer if you aren´t regularly regenerating yourself. So take your vacation time this year!
Have a strict evaluation process. Every plan and goal needs an evaluation tool. And it should be a strict evaluation process. This is how you objectively decide whether or not you are proceeding toward your goal. If you have the right evaluation tool and you look six months into it and you aren´t hitting the goals, perhaps you need to change the goal or the way you are going after it. The evaluation process is not to be underestimated in its importance!
Take somebody else with you. True greatness is not individual. The one who becomes great spreads the reward of greatness around. Incorporate many people into the plan and let them eat of the fruit of success. I live in an area that has literally thousands of millionaires created by a company that had a vision of greatness. And while yes, they experience the reward, the rewards then go out many levels through the whole community, from businesses that support our community to non-profit groups, churches, and schools. True greatness blesses those many levels away.
Learn to party! Party? Yes! What good is greatness if you can´t enjoy it? And not just the final destination but also the entire journey. Be sure to stop along the way and relish in your movement. Celebrate small and large victories. This keeps the sprit high and the big mo rolling! Spend the money, buy the food and blow up the balloons ? it´s time to celebrate!
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All You Want is Within Your Reach
If there is one thing that I believe with all my heart it is that you can have any life you choose to. You can live the life you have always dreamed of.
We live in a period of unparalleled opportunity in human history. Think about it: Just one hundred years ago, most people really only had five or six options when it came to deciding what they would do with their lives. For most, they didn´t even have the knowledge that they could do anything other than take over their father´s farm when they turned eighteen!
But today a person living in the western world (and many other areas of the world as well) can choose to do virtually anything they want to! They key is the word "choose."
You see, the world is within your reach. Any job you want can be yours if you decide. All of the opportunities are there for the taking. The question is whether or not you will take.
You say, "But Chris, you just don´t understand. I´m thirty-eight years old with two kids and I have bills to pay. I make $28,000 a year. I can´t just go become a doctor and make big money!"
And I say, "Yes you can! If you decide to. If you will take action you can become a doctor or anything else you want to. We live in a day and age when virtually anything is possible."
For the sake of highlighting this principle, let´s look at the above example. How would this person change careers? Simple. Here is the process in specific action steps:
- Find out from a medical school what classes you would need to take to get in. Chances are your college major would need some rounding out or if you didn´t go to college, you would need to do so. Maximum time to do this: 3 days.
- Now, go to school. Maximum time to do this: 4 years.
- Now, medical school and residency. Maximum time to do this: 6 years.
- Begin practicing medicine.
At this point you would be forty-eight years old. That leaves you seventeen years to practice. Now let´s see the impact it has on your life:
- You get to pursue your dream, making you and your family MUCH happier.
- You will make, on average, $100,000 more per year. The difference here is manifold! If you stayed where you were, you would have earned $28,000 a year for twenty-seven years and would earn $756,000. If you left and pursued your dream you would earn $128,000 for seventeen years (That´s if you took ten years to make the transition. Most would be less.) and you earnings would be $2,176,000! This is a difference of $1,420,000! And this doesn´t even take into consideration the amounts you would earn on investments on the difference in incomes.
So is it possible? Yes. Does it take time? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. Is it scary? Yes, and that is why most people won´t do it.
It isn´t for lack of opportunity. It is usually because of one of the following:
Lack of vision.
Lack of tenacity.
Fear.
The truth is that you can do anything you want to. Stop telling yourself excuses! Go to battle against a lack of vision! Pick yourself up and get tenacious! Look fear in the face and stand up to it! Your whole life depends on it, my friend!
The choice is yours. Will you continue to limp along in life because you don´t have the courage to run for your dream? Will you continue to allow the fear of poverty keep you from pursuing the riches, both materially and emotionally, that lay within the vision you have of what your life could be?
You CAN live the life you have always dreamed of. All you want is within your reach. But to pick it up, you must first empty your hands of what they already hold. Then you must reach for it, take a hold of it, and possess it!
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Your Dream Can Be Your Future
Here is a basic truth you must accept and believe if you are to achieve your dream...
Your dream can be a reality! That's right; your future can actually see you living your dream. It doesn't just have to be a big wish!
When we are young we are dreamers. Nothing seems too big for us to accomplish. Nothing seems too outrageous. The world is ours on a string as the old song goes. Until...
"Reality" hits. Reality is what others want to box you in with:
"You can't do that."
"Nobody has ever done that before."
"It will never work."
"You've gone off the deep end now!"
All dreamers (who eventually become accomplishers) have heard these things.
Yet they overcome them. They refuse to accept someone else's "reality" for their own life. They let the average people live their average lives, bound by fear, while they pursue their chosen future ? their dream! So don't believe the people who tell you that you can't or won't. Believe your dream. Believe that it can be your future!
Once you have determined that you can actually live your dream, I want you to memorize this acronym. I've shared it before, but I found that it is tremendously helpful for reminding and motivating us toward our dreams.
D is for Dare (dare to dream while others don't)
R is for Relentless (relentlessly pursue your dream no matter what)
E is for Excellence (strive for excellence in all you do)
A is for Abandon (abandon any other alternative plans)
M is for Measure (constantly measure where you are in your dream journey)
Okay, that's great and motivating, but what about the practical stuff? Well, there is certainly practical stuff. No matter how lofty your dream, no matter how spectacular, you will live most of your life in the mundane. Richard Nixon said of the presidency that you "campaign with poetry, but govern with prose." The vision is beautiful, the actual is mundane (not bad but "everyday" so to speak).
If you are to achieve your dream, you need to plan and work and work and plan. Here are my thoughts on how to go about reaching your dream and securing it as your future: Decide that you will do it. This may seem elementary but many people never decide and commit fully to their dream. They simply keep "thinking" about it. Tell others that you are going to do it. This puts you on the record as to what you are dreaming about. It makes you accountable. It will help you do it if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment!
Develop a step-by-step plan. This is absolutely essential. You must sit down and write out a few things:
1. A timeline. How long will it take to the end?
2. Action steps. Point-by-point, what you will do and when you will do them.
3. Resources you will need to draw from. What will it take? Who will need to be involved for help or advice?
4. An evaluation tool. You need to evaluate from time to time whether you are progressing or not.
5. A celebration. Yep, when you are done you should already have planned what you will do to celebrate. Make it big!
I have found that there is no better time than now to start making your dream a reality. So, set aside some time today to get started on your dream. Follow the action plan and set your sights for the top of the mountain! You will be glad you did!
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Ability, Motivation and Attitude
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." Lou Holtz
There are three primary aspects of your life that will determine whether or not you are successful in your endeavors. You will not be successful if you have only one or two. You must have all three working together. Consider them like the three legs of a "stool of success."
Ability ? the level at which you are able to actually do things. Your skill level. If you have a high level of skill, that´s good. And the better you get, the better it will be for you. To the degree that you can perform your actions at higher and higher skill levels, the more and more success you will find in your chosen field.
Motivation ? the level at which you are able to find "a reason to act." This is the internal drive that you find that enables you to exercise your abilities. To the degree that you can find a way, or ways, to keep yourself motivated, you will see yourself right in the thick of things, carrying out your actions to the best of your abilities and succeeding accordingly.
Attitude ? this is the mental state that you have while carrying out your actions to the best of your ability. It is the way you view the world around you and choose to see it, either positively or negatively. To the degree that you can maintain a positive attitude about yourself, others, and the circumstances you find yourself in, you will see yourself achieving greater and greater things.
"But Chris, can't I get away with just two?"
No.
What if you have high skills and motivation but a rotten attitude? People will stay away and hinder your success. What if you have a good attitude and motivation but poor skills? People will like you, maybe even root for you, but go to someone else with the skills they need. What if you have great skills and attitude but no motivation? Well, you'll be sitting on the couch like a lazy slug while the go-getters are out there making your money and achieving your dreams!
No, it takes all three. So let's ask some questions:
Ability: How highly skilled are you? Is your skill level holding you back? How so? What could you achieve if you just took your skills to the next level beyond where they are right now? How would improving your skills improve the bottom line of your success?
Motivation: How motivated are you? Why do you answer that way? What would your spouse or close friends say? Would they say you are as motivated as you say you are? Why or why not? Why do you have the level of motivation that you have? What could you do to find a higher level of motivation? What would happen if you became super motivated for the next period of your life. What great things would happen?
Attitude: Do you have a good attitude or a poor one? How would you rate yourself? What about when things go wrong? Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist? What would happen if you took your attitude to the next level for the next 60 days? What if you just chose to have an incredible attitude? What would be the ramifications?
"The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts." Booker T. Washington
This is so true. People will judge you on what you accomplish, not what you know or what you talk about. In fact, if you know a lot or talk a lot but do not accomplish anything, people will wonder what happened. So the question is whether or not you will take the actions necessary to deliver on your potential. To do so, you will need to focus in on the three legs of the stool of success: Your ability, your motivation, and your attitude.
Take some time this week to give some serious thought to these three areas. Your success depends on it! And when you have done some reflection ? put the conclusions you come to into action!
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Stop Just Writing About Your Past and Start Writing Your Future! by Chris Widener
"The history of free men is never written by chance, but by choice – their choice." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Many people spend a lot of time on their history. Some do it purposefully with such hobbies as journaling, while others simply write and rewrite their history over and over in their minds. Depending upon the way you go about this, this can be good or bad. If you are doing it so you can reflect back on your life, that’s good. If you are doing it so you can learn from your past, that’s good too. Unfortunately, many people do it simply as a subconscious act of running themselves into the ground over and over.
What you "write" in your mind is an act of mental discipline, just as what you write on a sheet of paper is a discipline. Keep that in mind.
So if this is true, that we can make a choice as to what we want to write, both literally and figuratively, we have an extraordinary opportunity!
Instead of going over and over our past, we can choose to write our future! Have you ever thought about writing your future before it even happens to you? Well, now you can – and you will!
Here is a process that will let you determine and write your own future!
Choose to choose your own future. If you don't make the decision to accept responsibility for your own future, then you are choosing to not write your future. You must choose to choose. Do you?
Determine what you want your future to be. Be specific.
What do you want to earn?
Where do you want to live?
What do you want to weigh?
What do you want to do for a living?
What do you want to do in your leisure time?
How much do you want to retire on?
If you don't know the answers to these questions, then you may as well not even begin to write your future. Take some time to answer them fully.
Get a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. If you are going to write your future, you will have to have a sober understanding of what you are good at and what you are not particularly good at. Maybe ask a good friend or your spouse to give you an honest appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses.
Focus on playing to your strengths while ever improving your weaknesses. Be sure that what you are doing is utilizing your strengths to their fullest. And you don't want to forget your weaknesses, even while you are trying to stay away from them. Instead, set smaller goals for improvement in your areas of weakness while you set grand goals for the areas you are strongest in!
Get out a three pieces of paper. On the top of one, write, "One year from today I will…" On the next write, "Three years from today I will…" On the last write, "Ten years from today I will…" Then begin to fill them out. Make commitments to yourself. As you write them, end each sentence with a transition to how you are going to do it. For example, you may write, "One year from today I will… Have $4800 in my saving account by saving $400 per month."
Start putting only information into your mind that will benefit the fulfillment of the kind of life you are writing about. For example, if you have a hard time spending money rather than saving it, you should probably cancel all of the catalogues that come each day that entice you to spend. Instead, spend the time you would have spent thumbing through catalogues going through financial growth material instead.
Discipline yourself to spend your time in a manner that will help you get to your goals. For example, cut out five hours of television a week and spend that time on your goals instead. That would be a difference of 260 hours in the next year! Wow! What could you do with another 260 hours? Almost anything!
You do not have to be a paper cup blowing to and fro in the wind! You do not have to live at the whims of other people or circumstances. You CAN choose your future! You can write it out just the way you want it to happen! Yes, ups and downs will come but you will outlast them and eventually arrive at your destiny. Then, when you get to the end of your life, you will know how it all turns out because you will have been the author!
Get going – write your own future!
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